This research looks at the birth and evolution of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EEs) in Portugal, comparing all the internal administrative regions. One the analysis led to a major distinction being drawn between dreamers (companies created by notary acts) and starters (companies actually running and, thus, submitting for the first time their payrolls to the government agency MTSSS). This data is analysed over time, trying to measure the evolution of both dreamers and starters, by comparing different periods. Those periods were defined consistently to the overall latest evolution of portuguese economy, thus separating a) The final years of past century (first available numbers in the statistical series), b) The first decade of this century, c) The years of the troika/IMF intervention and d) The second half of last decade. Results show a huge difference between startups “dreamed” and startups actually “started”: dreamers largely outnumber and outgrow starters by a factor approaching 1.35. Data also shows this difference spiked in the second half of last decade and this spike could be the result of the creation of the most visible EEs (Lisboa, Porto and Braga) who seem to influence the increase in Dreamers but not so much the increase in Starters. Figures also show a disappointing performance by the most visible ecosystems, like Lisboa, Porto and Braga, while other regions (like the Algarve) outperform them consistently in the numbers of starters. With this data, an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index (EEI) was built to compare the performance of all nut 3 regional ecosystems. The results show how heterogeneous are the Portuguese EEs.